Scrapbook
by TheSociallyInept
Summary: They were told that their teenage years would be the best of their lives. But does that still apply when there's a war going on all around them?
1. A Day of Days

**Disclamer: None of the characters or places are mine (sadly, I'd like me some Marauders) they belong to J.K. Rowling.**

**A/N - First multi chapter fic. First published anything. Yay! Big thanks to AJ (Tumblrs moonyfied) for beta-ing and helping me as a first time writer with this chapter! Please review.  
Cheers, Chelle.**

* * *

"Lily!" Petunia screeched through her sister's bedroom door, "Lily, your freak friends are here!"

Lily rolled over in her bed with a groan, squinting at the watch on her bedside table, 9 o'clock. There was the sound of a door slamming - Petunia's, she thought – and then music coming from the lounge room.

"Evans, get your arse down here!" Marlene yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Lily grinned and jumped out of bed, almost tripping over the books and clothes strewn over the floor, and was down stairs in seconds. Three trunks were stacked on top of hers in the hall next to two heavy-looking bags. Lily walked into the kitchen where Marlene was making coffee.

"Hey," She said. "I can make breakfast."

"No you can't." Marlene replied, "Unless you're wearing that on the train." She grinned, pointing at Lily's oversized shirt and pyjama shorts.

"Probably should go get changed huh?" She laughed. "Are Alice and Doe in the lounge room?"

"You know Dorcas is, who else plays The Beatles this loud at nine in the morning?" Marlene grinned. "Alice is having breakfast with the Longbottoms."

"Then whose trunk is in the hall?" Lily asked slowly.

"Mine," came a deep voice from behind her, making her jump and whirl around. "Better go get changed, Evans, we have to leave before ten." Sirius smirked. Lily grinned back at him, saluted, and dashed out of the kitchen.

By the time Lily came back downstairs, drying her wet hair with a towel, there were three more trunks stacked beside the first pile. She followed the loud laughter into the kitchen where everyone was sitting around the table drinking coffee and tea. Lily stopped in the doorway and looked around the table; Sirius and Marlene were sitting at the far end of the table with her dad laughing while Dorcas and Benjy Fenwick had an intense and very loud argument about how the next DADA teacher would go and Remus Lupin and James Potter were commentating. After a while she looked up at the clock on the wall then caught her father's eye and tapped her watch.

"Alright guys, time to go." He said abruptly, standing up. The conversations kept going as everyone made their way out of the house.

"Hang on, I'll be right back, I've just got to get something." Lily said, digging through the bag slung over her shoulder. "Nobody let Sirius or Dorcas drive!" She called as she ran up the stairs.

The pale blue walls of Lily's bedroom were washed out to an almost-white by the morning sun which made everything seem much brighter than it actually was. Lily dug through the bottom drawer of her desk, humming to herself softly until she found a small box and wedged it under her arm so she could carry her cat, Felix, down in his basket.

"He's cute." James said, making her jump. "I'll carry him down." He picked up the large wicker basket and scratched between the kitten's ears.

"Thanks." Lily mumbled, brushing past him. James furrowed his brow before following her out.

"So remind me again why neither I nor Sirius could drive." Dorcas inquired once they were all wedged into the car- Marlene's mother had put an extension charm on it so it looked like normal but could fit up to ten people plus luggage- with Lily, Benjy and James in the front seat with Mr Evans driving and Marlene, Sirius, Remus and Dorcas in the back.

"Because," Lily said, scratching Felix's ears while he slept, "You concentrate more on singing than driving and Sirius is… well Sirius."

"I'm feeling the love, Evans." Sirius said, clutching his chest in mock hurt.

* * *

Lily kissed her father on the cheek, "Take care of yourself." She said before ducking out of the car.

"Thanks, Mr Evans!" They all called, pushing the trolleys into the crowded station.

"Don't these people know that it's rude to stare?" Lily muttered.

"Seven teenagers walking through a train station together with trunks and owls, yeah, why would they stare?" Benjy said.

"Maybe they're just amazed at how good looking Prongs and I are," Sirius shrugged.

Dorcas rolled her eyes, "Come on. I want to get a good compartment," she muttered, walking faster.

It seemed to be a lot noisier on platform 9¾ than it was back through the barrier; everyone was catching up after having not seen each other for the past three months.

"James!" a very high pitched voice squealed, Lily looked over her shoulder just in time to see a small blond sauntering up to James and start batting her eyelashes and feeling his biceps.  
Lily made a gagging noise in the back of her throat and stormed off.

_His arm encircled her waist as he leant into her, this was it, these few minutes alone could change everything. Lily could hear her heart pounding in her ears, she didn't realise that she was holding her breath until he kissed her. It wasn't a kiss that anyone would think they'd have, it wasn't hard and rough and passionate, it was soft and timid. She had seen James kiss girls before (much to her disliking) and none of them had been like this, not a single one. As she kissed back slowly she thought that maybe he really did feel differently towards her, maybe it wasn't all lust. The door opened and there stood Marlene and Sirius, their mouths wide open. Lily pulled away from James so hard that she backed into the bookcase they were in standing front of. She mumbled an excuse to leave and was out of the room before anyone could utter a single word. _

"Lily." Dorcas said, sitting across from her in their compartment. "Are you okay?" She asked quietly. Lily looked up and nodded, forcing a smile to form on her lips. Marlene was staring at her, she could feel it.

"I'm going to the prefects meeting," Lily said, standing up, "make sure Felix doesn't run out the door when someone comes in." And with that she was gone.

Marlene watched her walk down the corridor. "She kissed James," She said suddenly.

"What?" Dorcas yelped, "When?_ Where_?"

"In the study last Friday. Lily doesn't want anyone to know so you can't say anything, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

"Did you talk to her?" Sirius asked James after Remus had gone to the prefects meeting.

James shook his head, "I reckon she's trying to avoid me, I mean why wouldn't she? Merlin, why did Pete have to stay in Hogsmeade." He whined, "We can't pull a good prank without him here, we'll definitely get noticed."

Sirius scratched his chin, "How many decks of exploding snap does it take to blow up a train compartment?"  
James raised his brows, a grin tugging at his lips.

"I am _so_ hungry." Dorcas groaned, flipping through the morning edition of the Prophet she hadn't gotten to reading that morning.

"You're always hungry." Marlene remarked from her seat on the floor where she was playing with Felix.  
Dorcas rolled her eyes just as the compartment door swung open emitting Mary Macdonald, a curvy, tanned girl with thick, dark brown hair and eyes the colour of chocolate. Her hair was slightly messy at the back and her cheeks were flushed.

"Edgar Bones is a great snog." She said, sitting down and readjusting her skirt.

"Edgar Bones is a prat." Marlene said, looking up at her, "Great keeper, but still a prat,"

Mary rolled her eyes and had just opened her mouth to reply when there was a sound like a gun shot that made the glass in the door and windows rattle. Dorcas opened the door and stuck her head out into the corridor, the smell of burning parchment and cigarette smoke instantly filling her nostrils. Thick blue smoke was wafting from a compartment three doors up.

"I think Potter and Black tried to blow up the train." She said over her shoulder.  
The three girls were out the door in seconds, all laughing harder than the next, and up to the scorched compartment before everyone else. The two boys stood in the middle of the compartment, clothes charred, James was missing half an eyebrow and the ends of Sirius' sleek hair were singed and smoking.

"What the hell did you do?" Frank Longbottom demanded over the roaring laughter in the corridor. Marlene could see the Head Boy badge pinned to his robes, it gleamed as bright as the laughter in his eyes when it caught in the light.

"Well you see we- is that a HEAD BOY BADGE LONGBOTTOM?" Sirius bellowed, "You've finally given out on us!"

Frank put his hands up as if surrendering, "What can I say? Someone has to keep you lot in line."

James snorted, "I'm sure you'll do a _great_ job at that."

"I should at least make it _look_ like I try," Frank shrugged, "make sure you get this mess cleaned up." He  
finished, attempting to usher the crowd back to their compartments.

Marlene leant against the splintered doorway of the boys' compartment, a single eyebrow raised.

James shrugged, "We got bored."

"So you tried to blow up the train?" Dorcas snickered.

"We prefer to call it Ultimate Exploding Snap." Sirius countered.

"Oh Merlin," A voice sounded from behind the girls, Remus was staring wide eyed at the blackened compartment and his two fellow Marauders. "Ultimate Exploding Snap?"

"Ah, Moony, we were wondering how long that meeting was going to take," James smirked.

"We were hoping you could help us with this beauty." Sirius concluded, gesturing to the compartment.

"Longbottom told us to clear it up." With a simultaneous wave of his and James' wands the compartment started righting itself.

"Where's Lily?" Mary asked Remus.

"She's got patrols with Amelia Bones 'til 1."

"Maybe you guys should share our compartment," Marlene said, "just in case you try to blow something else up."  
They all agreed and made their way to the girls' compartment, upon arriving Marlene stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the floor of the compartment. The very bare, cat-less floor.

"Shit." She muttered.

"Felix!" Dorcas yelled, "Mary did you pick him up?"

"No."

"You lost Lily's cat? We have to find him before she comes back!"

"Right," James said. "We'll find him quicker if we strategize."

"And what do you propose Mr. I'm-The-Leader-Because-I'm-Quidditch-Captain-And-B etter-Than-You?" Marlene asked, her voice dripping with disdain.

"Well, Bones is a Ravenclaw right? Dorcas is pretty friendly with them, and Remus is another prefect, so they can distract Evans while Mary goes asking around the compartments if anyone has seen him and you, Pads and I look."

She nodded, "That turned out better than I thought. Okay, hang on though, I think I have something that can help." She stood on the seat and pulled down Lily's bag from on top of her trunk and started emptying out the contents. She finally pulled out a large wooden box and opened it. It was the box, James noticed, that Lily had grabbed from her room that morning, it was full of polaroid photos, some with captions, others moving, all of people, animals or places. Lily got a bit enthusiastic when it came to taking pictures, she absolutely loved it. After flipping through dozens of pictures of the group from that summer, Marlene came to one that had been taken a little more recently; it was a little black fluffy figure with piercing green eyes looking up at the camera, Felix.  
"Here," She gave the picture to Mary, "Ask if anyone has seen him."

"I can't believe you lost Evans' cat." Sirius snickered, patting Marlene on the back, earning a punch to the chest.

"Shut up. Let's just go."

They all nodded and headed their respective ways.

"Lily is going to kill me," Marlene muttered, "he could be anywhere."

"Felix." James called between whistles, "We'll find him."

"Yeah," Sirius said, "or we can get Evans another cat."

"No." Marlene said, smacking him on the back of the head. "This is Lily we're talking about, she'd notice. Anyway, I can't do that to her."

James nodded. "She would notice, Padfoot. Lily notices all the little details that we don't, she's… special."  
Sirius snorted derisively, earning an elbow to the ribs. 

* * *

Mary slid open the door to the third compartment full of fourth years she had been to that afternoon. "Have you seen this cat?" She asked, holding up the picture.

"No." One of them, a short girl with curly almost-black hair, said.

"Why would we have?" A boy beside her snapped, he had the same dark hair and intense blue eyes. Her brother maybe, Mary thought.

"No need to get snippy," she muttered sliding the door closed with a click.

"Oi, Macdonald!" Two voices called in unison from down the hall.  
Mary turned to find her path impeded by the Prewett brothers.

"How's it going, Mary?" Fabian asked.

"You look a little flustered," Gideon added.

"Haven't seen Felix, have you?" She asked.

"Felix?"

"Lily's cat?"

Mary nodded, "We've lost him." She said quietly.

"Nah, we haven't," Gideon said.

"But we'll keep a lookout for him." Fabian finished, moving out of Mary's way.

"Thanks." She said, moving to open the next door. 

* * *

"Good holiday?" Remus asked, opening the door to the next carriage.

Dorcas shrugged. "I've had worse," She mumbled, moving past him. "Went to France with my mother for a month, stayed with dad and then alternated between Marlene's, Lily's and James' for the last month, though you already know all that because you asked me the same question last week when we went to London."

"Did I?" He squinted out the window at the cloudy sky. "Sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind."

"We all do." She mumbled.

"You know what I mean, Doe," He sighed. "I- "

"I know, I know." She cut him off, brushing her fingers against his arm. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Remus mumbled, brushing her off.

"Remus," She pleaded, pulling him to the side. "I didn't mean it like that. Really. I know you had a hard time over the summer, but we're back, everything's going back to normal again." She whispered, running a finger along a new, thin pink scar reaching down his neck. She rose up on her toes and leant in, eyes half closed, lips parted slightly.

Remus looked down at her, his eyes wide, was she about to kiss him? Merlin, she was going to kiss him!

"Um…" He moved away from her, continuing their path down the hall, "We should keep going."

Dorcas' face fell, her eyes going wide, she steadied herself against the window for a minute, collecting herself, before following him at a slower pace. "Yeah." She muttered.

They continued through several more carriages in silence before they finally came across Lily and Amelia. Both Dorcas and Remus stopped; there, wedged into the crook of Lily's arm was Felix, his large, green eyes staring at them.

"Looking for somebody?" Lily asked, jerking her chin towards Felix.

"Well, not really. Marlene, Sirius, James and Mary are. We were sent to distract you." Dorcas said in a rush.

Remus frowned, "How did you find him?"

"He found us, actually." Amelia said, scratching the cats head.

Lily nodded. "Ever since I got him he's had to go everywhere with me. I think he thinks he needs to protect me."

"Cute," Dorcas mumbled, "I better go find the others." She turned and was down the corridor before anyone could say anything.

Amelia frowned, "Something's up. I better go see if she's okay, I'll see you later, Lily, Remus," She nodded and headed off after Dorcas.

"She tried to kiss me, Lily." Remus said nervously.

"Dorcas?" Lily's face lit up. "Did you kiss her?"

He shook his head, "I just panicked and completely just- I brushed her off and walked away."

Lily frowned at him, "She probably thinks that you're not interested now."

"But I am!"

"_I _know that, she obviously doesn't. It's your move, Remus." She sighed. "Come on, it's after one, Benjy should have started with Bertha by now."

"Poor bloke."

"Yeah."

By the time they got back to the girls compartment the rest of the group was there.

"Lily I'm so sorry," Marlene said, getting up. "I should have picked him up."

"Mar, it's okay. Really. Why do you only have one and a half eyebrows, Potter?"

"Ultimate Exploding Snap." Sirius piped up.

"_Ultimate_ _exploding snap?_"

"Yeah, we sort of blew the compartment up so we have to stay here because they don't trust us." James pointed to the girls sitting opposite him.

"Right." Lily mumbled, sitting down on the floor under the window and putting Felix in his basket.

"God, I'm starving, when does the Trolley Lady come around?" Dorcas asked.

Lily shrugged, "Where's Amelia?"

"She went back to her compartment once we'd found this lot."

"Oh." She nodded and closed her eyes. "Somebody wake me when the Trolley Lady comes by, and if Felix wakes up don't lose him again."

"Evans, you can't sleep on the floor." Sirius said.

"Yes I can." She said absently.

Before Sirius could retort she was asleep, "Merlin, what I would give to be able to fall asleep like that." He muttered.

* * *

Lily woke to laughter and the smell of pumpkin pasties, a large hand was holding one right under her nose. Her face was resting on something warm and soft, it smelt so good and a little familiar. Once the hand had moved she noticed that she was lying against the seat between someone's legs. Lily sat up quickly, looking up at James who was holding a pasty out to her.

"I told you to wake me up when she came." She mumbled, taking it from him. "How long was I asleep for?"

"A few hours," Marlene said, glancing out the window. "We had to hunt her down, must have missed her when we were out looking for Felix. We should be there in an hour or two."

Lily bit into the pasty just as realisation washed over her. "Crap!" She said, mouth full. She got up and stepped onto the expanse of seat between James and Remus. "I haven't taken any pictures all day!" She rummaged through her trunk until she found her camera nestled amongst her robes. She pulled it out and took a picture of Marlene and Sirius from where she was. "Where's Mary?"

"I think she went to see Edgar, we're sure that they're shagging but we don't know if it's anything other than that, she hasn't told us anything." Dorcas said from her spot in the far corner of the opposite seat, her knees were pulled up to her chest, a book balanced on top of them.

"Anything but that he's a good snog." Marlene added.

"I'm sure she'd say that," Lily said, sitting down between James and Remus and picking up the jacket that she was using as a pillow. "She only snogs guys who are good snogs." She wrapped the jacket around her shoulders, turned the camera around and took a photo of herself and Remus.

"Lily!" He whined.

"But Remus, you're too cute not to take pictures of." She grinned, snapping one of Dorcas who had continued reading, then took a few of herself pulling faces and then three of James.

"You look like a little kid on their first visit to Honeydukes." He teased.

She snapped a few more of herself pulling faces. "That's because it's fun." She grinned, there was now a small pile of pictures in her lap.

After a while the boys left to get changed, and with 15 minutes until they arrived at Hogsmeade station so did the girls.

"Do you really think they'll let you wear them?" Marlene asked, glancing at Dorcas' new, bright red Doc Martens.

Doe shrugged, "It's house pride, and anyway, I can change the colour. I might charm them to roar or something at the first match we play, what do you think?"

There was a knock from the other side of the door, "Are you decent?" Remus called.

"Are we ever?" Lily laughed, taking a photo of Dorcas tying her shoes. She was a bit weird, Dorcas, definitely the most unique of the 6th year Gryffindor girls, she always managed to get off for defiling the school dress code, wearing thigh-high stripy socks with (usually) bright coloured pair of boots and a skirt, too short to be considered sensible but too long to be considered slutty or revealing, that made her legs (which went on for miles) seem even longer, and she always managed to have different coloured streaks in her hair and different coloured nail polish every day. Dorcas definitely out-shone Marlene, Mary, Alice and Lily in that department.

The door slid open just as the photo fully developed, "Damn," Sirius grinned, "we were hoping to catch you still in the process of changing."

"Funny," Lily said, snapping a picture of the boys as the train jolted to a stop. "C'mon, let's go," She levitated her trunk behind her and picked up Felix's basket. "Don't want to miss the carriages, do you?"  
By the time they got off the train and had all their luggage on a carriage all the first years had gone and everyone else was flooding onto the platform.

"Just go talk to her," Lily mumbled to Remus, noticing him watching her friend.

"You go talk to James," Came his reply.

"You know about that?"

"Everyone does." Marlene said, taking Lily's trunk.

Before Lily could say anything James was by her side. "Evans, we need to talk."

"I know."

"How about we walk up to the castle? I think we have a lot to talk about."

"Yeah, okay." She said, picking Felix up from his perch on Marlene's trunk. James led her along the edge of the lake, away from the track the carriages would take.

"Oh, I think this is yours," Lily said after a while, pulling James' coat out of her bag, "I fell asleep on it,"

James shook his head, "Keep it, you look cold. Right. So the other day… Well there's no point in saying that we won't tell anybody because the only people that we would tell already know." He laughed awkwardly.

Lily smiled slightly, "Yeah."

"But what I want to know is-"

"I don't regret it. I don't think it was a mistake. But I don't know what to do." Lily said all in a rush.

* * *

"Where's James?"

"Where's Lily?"

"Maybe they caught another carriage."

"I think he said he wanted to talk with her."

"Maybe they're snogging it out. 'It' being all their sexual frustration and supposed hate for each other."

"Thanks for the input, Sirius."

"Or maybe they've just gotten over with it and are shagging it out."

"Sirius!" Marlene elbowed him in the ribs.

"From the mind that brought you _Ultimate Exploding Snap_." Dorcas muttered.

"Hey that was a good idea!"

"Until you blew up the compartment." Remus said.

"Two galleons says McGonagall finds them in the Entrance Hall and gives them two weeks detention."  
Marlene said, leaning towards Remus.

"Make it a month and you've got a deal." He chuckled.

"Do you mind? You're sort of trying to make profit off my failure."

"How is it a failure? You got what you wanted." Dorcas asked.

"Well, if I wasn't in the middle of the compartment, burning, when everyone came to laugh at it wouldn't be a failure."

"Actually we all try to make a profit off your everything." Marlene smirked.

"It's true." Mary added.

The group filed into the Entrance Hall with the rest of the school, there was still no sign of James and Lily, the hall was cramped and loud, everyone's conversations echoing off the walls. They found refuge by the Grand Staircase, far from anyone but second and third years.

"Where are they?" Marlene asked, frantically looking around the hall.

"Don't worry," Sirius said, slinging an arm over her shoulder. "This is Prongs we're talking about, she'll be  
fine with him."

She leant into his chest and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Mary," Dorcas said from her perch on the railing.

"Yeah?"

"Are you and Edgar just, like, shagging or is there actually something going on there?"

Mary frowned and bit her lip, looking down. After a while she looked up at her friend. "I don't- I don't actually know, Doe."

"It's just, don't get mad at me, but he's a prat. He's got a reputation for screwing around with girls, it might be different with you. But then it might not, you know?"

Mary nodded. "I know,"

"Mr Black." Came the ever recognisable voice of Minerva McGonagall. "As I understand it you and Mr Potter decided it would be amusing to blow up the Hogwarts Express. Where is Mr Potter?"

"We don't know, professor," Marlene said.

"Well then, Black, you and Potter both have a month's detention and I would like to talk with you both after the feast."

"Yes, professor."

She nodded and strode away.

"Nice to see you, Minnie!" Sirius called.

"Two months, Black!" Was her reply.

"Oh, it's good to be back." Dorcas said, grinning at the two foot tall pudding that had appeared in front of her just seconds before.

"Yes. It. Is." Sirius grinned, shovelling pie onto his plate. "Even if I just got two months detention."

Marlene rolled her eyes and bit into a tart.

"I may not have seen it but I felt the presence of that eye roll, Mar." Dorcas said, looking around the pudding at her. "Don't tell me that you didn't miss all the food."

"Am I the only one who is worrying about our friends who _still _haven't turned up?" She snapped.

"They're _fine_, you're just bitter because you lost two galleons to Remus."

"Really it should only be one galleon since you got two months and Prongs only got one." Remus allowed, frowning slightly.

"Anyway," Dorcas said, aiming to change the subject, "you know what this calls for, Black?"

"What does it call for, Meadowes?"

"A brilliant welcome back party, after you're back from your little chat with McGonagall, of course,"

"Is there any other kind?" Sirius grinned.

"Where's Pete?" Remus asked, looking around.

"Dunno, maybe he's late."

"Well check the map."

"I can't," Sirius said, "Prongs has it. If I had it I'd have already looked for him and Lily ages ago and we'd  
know where they are."

"Well can't you use the mirror?"

Sirius glared across at Remus and kicked him under the table.

"I've been worrying about my best friend for the last hour or so and you've been able to contact them and find out where they are the whole time?" Marlene demanded, hitting him repeatedly in the arm.

"Yes?" He said, shying away from her.

"Well go on, call him!"

"And ask if they can go into Hogsmeade and get some butterbeer and alcohol for us." Dorcas added.

Sirius pulled the small mirror out of his pocket and looked into it. "James Potter," He said, "James Potter."

"What?" Came James' annoyed reply.

"Where are you?"

"We're walking around the grounds, what do you want?"

"We wanted to know where you are, we were worried." Marlene said, looking into the mirror.

"We're fine, Mar," Lily said.

"Doe thinks we should throw a welcome home party,"

"And we need you to go get butterbeer and some form of alcohol, mead or wine or something," Dorcas  
added.

"And while you're there can you look for Pete?"

"He's not there?" James asked.

"No, we haven't seen him all night."

"Okay,"

"Oh and you have a month's detention and I have two, also Minnie wants to see us. Though I doubt you'll be back by then so I'll cover for you,"

"Thanks, Pads. Now hurry up and put that thing away before you get caught," And then James and Lily disappeared and the mirror only showed Sirius and Marlene's reflection.

"You are such a prat," Marlene muttered.

* * *

"Now, Evans, time for some trouble," James smirked, pulling a sleek sort-of-cloak-sheet-thing from his bag.

"Is that-? You have a-? How?"

"Invisibility cloak? Yeah, it's been passed through my family for generations." He shrugged. "Okay, do you want to take Felix up to your dorm or with us?"

Lily bit her lip, hesitant, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Come on, Evans, we won't get caught. Promise." James said.

"I guess I'll lock him in the bathroom and get my money and stuff." She said slowly.

"Okay." He stuffed the cloak into his bag and pulled out a piece of folded parchment and pointed his wand at  
it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map." Lily read aloud, watching as James unfolded it. "You made this?"

James nodded, "Along with the help of Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot."

"What? No, is that Hogwarts? And there," She pointed to the Great Hall, "That's everyone?"

"Yeah." He pulled her towards the castle.

"Everyone should be at dinner but this is just to make sure that we don't get caught, you aren't gonna wimp out, are you?"

Lily shook her head. "No way,"

He grinned, "We should make you an honorary Marauder," They got to the Entrance Hall, "Get ready to run if someone sees us."

They jogged up the grand staircase and up several others, jumping trick steps and ducking behind tapestries, through hidden passages and up more staircases.

"Oh no, you better know the password." James muttered as they got to the portrait hole.

"Jumblebumbles?" Lily bit her lip, waiting for the portrait to swing open.

"You're very early, dears." The Fat Lady said as it swung back.

"Yes, Yes, we know." Lily said, running through the empty common room and up the stairs to her dorm. She dragged Felix's litter box and water and food bowls into the bathroom and shut him in there with them then scrawled a note to the girls and taped it to the door. She dug out a bag and some money from her trunk and ran back downstairs.

"Took you long enough." James said, leaning against the lounge in front of the fire.

"Shut up and go." She said, pushing him towards the portrait hole. "How are we supposed to get into Hogsmeade if they've shut the gates?"

"We take the hidden passage to Honeydukes."

"And if the door is locked?"

"Magic, my dear Evans, magic."

He led her down more staircases, through more hidden passages and to the statue of the One Eyed Witch. Lily raised a brow as he tapped the hump with his wand and it opened. "Ladies first."

Lily looked into the small opening, it was too dark to see anything. She grabbed the top of the entry and stepped in.

"I wouldn't-" James started but it was too late, Lily slid down the slope with a squeal and then a thump.

"Ow!"

"I told you not to." He said, sliding down next to her.

"Well you could have warned me earlier," She muttered stumbling over the uneven ground, "Arg," She pulled her wand out, whispered "Lumos." And started walking. "How long does this thing go for?"

"Almost an hour if you walk, so hurry up." James said, fastening his pace to a jog.

He was right, it took them around 30-40 minutes to get to the end of the tunnel and another five to soundlessly run up the hundred-or-so stone steps. Once they were in the cellar underneath Honeydukes James grabbed a crate and stuffed it into his bag, the whole crate disappeared into the bag which looked almost empty.

"Don't you just love magic?" He muttered, dropping four galleons where the crate had been stacked.  
He pulled the cloak over himself and Lily and they tread softly up the steps into the shop above, all the lights were off and the shop was empty.

"Alohamora," James muttered, pointing his wand at the door once they had gotten across the shop. He tentatively turned the knob but the door didn't open, "Shit, they sealed it."

"Of course they did," Lily murmured, "you're just lucky you've got me." She pulled a pin from her hair, bent it a little and pushed it into the keyhole, after turning and jostling it a bit the lock finally clicked. She grinned at James and silently opened the door.

Once they were out on the main street they walked a little faster. Until they saw a small, round figure in a dark cloak, dragging a trunk, coming towards them.

"Peter." James said, grabbing the boy and pulling him into the nearest alleyway.

"Geroffme, James." Peter groaned.

"Where the hell were you?" James asked, pulling the cloak off of him and Lily.

"Mum was fussing and I- Lily?"

"Hey, Pete," Lily said.

"That's Prongs' coat," He said, pointing to the too big coat wrapped around her, "Are you-? Prongs!"

Lily shook her head, smiling. "No, we've just decided to be friends. Though, I don't doubt you know about that kiss last Friday,"

Peter shook his head, his face going pink. "Sirius can't keep anything to himself."

"Anyway, Wormtail, we're going to go pay Rosmerta a little visit-"

"James Potter. James Potter." It was coming from his pocket.

James groaned and pulled the mirror out, "What now? Dorcas?" he asked in confusion.

"Sirius is with McGonagall. Er… Nobody's going for the party idea, said they know what your parties are like and they actually want to get to class tomorrow, you'd better come back."

"But we just got out of Honeydukes, I got a crate and all." James whined.

"Yeah, well, just come back, we can eat all those sweets."

"Yeah, yeah, we found Pete, by the way."

"What did they do?" Came Marys distant voice.

"They found Peter."

"Oh."

"Anyway," James said, "better go." He shoved the mirror back in his pocket. "Let's go."

They walked back up the street towards the entry to the grounds, Lily picked up a rock off the ground and threw it as far as she could, it landed with a soft thump on the damp grass.

"I don't think they've got the barriers up yet," She muttered, walking up the dirt path. "hurry up or we won't get back before curfew, and then you sods won't have an excuse for being out after hours."

"And what will your excuse be?" Peter asked.

Lily tapped the Prefect badge pinned to her cloak. "Special privileges."

By the time they got up to the common room it was almost empty, only a few of the younger students remained. Lily bolted up the steps to the boys dorms followed by James, who was lugging Peter's trunk up behind him, and then Peter himself.

"And here they are, the happy couple," Sirius announced from the window seat when they walked in. "Er… and Wormtail."

"We aren't-" James began just as Lily spoke up.

"We're just-" She cleared her throat, looking at him. "We just decided to be friends." She dropped her bag on the floor and jumped onto James' bed behind Dorcas who was painting her nails a sparkly white colour.

"Yeah," James mumbled, dropping Peter's trunk at the end of his bed. "We're just mates." He pulled the crate out of his bag and put it in front of Dorcas then chucked the bag behind Lily.

"I dunno what's in there." He said, joining Sirius at the window and pulling a pack of cigarettes from behind the cushion.

"Do you really have to smoke in here?" Remus asked, looking up from his book.

"The window is open," Sirius said as James lit his cigarette. "And anyway, Doe's nail polish stinks but you don't have a problem with it."

Remus glared at him.

"Can we just open this thing?" Marlene asked, pointing her wand at the crate. There was a loud _crack_ and the crate fell apart and dozens of blocks of Honeydukes Finest slid out.

"_Score_!" Dorcas grinned.

* * *

Later that night after they had gone back to their own dorm, the girls laid awake, talking.

"So where did you go?" Mary asked.

"We walked up along the lake and then around the grounds." Lily said, scratching Felix's head as he slept on her chest.

"And you said you were talking, I guess you sorted out the whole thing about that kiss?"

"Yeah, I told him I didn't regret it but that I don't know what to do."

"And what did he say?" Dorcas asked

"Well he was surprised that I didn't want to forget all about it , as you'd think he'd be, and then he said he didn't know what to do either and that maybe we should just be friends for the time being."

"You really do like him, don't you?"

"I don't know, Mar. I don't know."


	2. Potter Will be the Death of Us All

The rest of the week wasn't anything special, in fact the next three weeks were absolutely dismal. Every day was the same; breakfast, classes, lunch, more classes, dinner, detention (for James and Sirius), homework, sleep and every day –with the exception of the full moon- the process just started all over again. Until the last Saturday in September, the day of the Gryffindor Quidditch trials. For once it wasn't raining and everyone was outside soaking up all the sunlight they could while it lasted, though not at 6am, which Marlene thought was the perfect time to wake up her room mates.

Lily woke to the scratchy sound of a record that hadn't started playing then the opening and closing of a door. There was the soft guitar riff-which was actually very loud- and then the even louder drums.

"Oh, Merlin. Turn it off! Turn it off!" She yelled. "I am going to kill you, Marlene!"

"You are so lucky that we actually like you," Alice yelled at the bathroom door as she pulled the pin off of the record, "because if we didn't, one of us actually _would_ kill you."

Lily yanked her curtains open as Marlene cackled manically in the srehower, she pointed her wand at the wall and with a bang and the sound of pipes groaning turned the water ice cold. Marlene squealed.  
"No sleepovers last night?" Lily asked Alice, trying to contain her laughter.

Alice shook her head, "Nah, Friday night is blokes' night apparently."

Lily snorted and glanced at her watch. "It's too early." She moaned.

"Agreed. I'm going back to bed."  
She heard the sound of springs groaning as Alice flopped onto her bed. Lily closed the curtains to her own bed and rolled over, closing her eyes. It was half an hour of tossing and turning before she decided to go down to the Quidditch tryouts with Marlene.

Lily sat on the end of her bed, pulling her Chuck Taylors on when Marlene came out of the bathroom, fully clothed in tights and her Quidditch jersey with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth.

"Oogumming?" She asked.

"What?" Lily asked, looking up at her.

Marlene rolled her eyes and turned back into the bathroom. "I said are you coming?" She called.

"Oh," Lily muttered. "Yeah."

When they got there there were already more than two dozen people on the pitch and a few in the stands, including four giggling Ravenclaw girls.

"Oi!" Marlene shouted up at them, "Rack off!"

The girls instantly went quiet, got up and left. Lily sat in their spot and was shortly joined by Mary, Dorcas and Alice.

James stood in front of the group on the pitch, Marlene- one of the teams beaters- and Sirius- a chaser like James- stood behind him.

"Right." James said, "Four laps around the pitch, if you can't stay in front of McKinnon you're wasting my time. What are you waiting for? Go!"

They all took off around the pitch, "Go easy on them," He muttered, "There's a few third year Hufflepuffs in there."

Marlene nodded and ran after them.

"Okay, boys and girls," James called after they had run their four laps. "sit."

The group collapsed on the ground, panting, Marlene and Sirius resumed their positions behind James.

"Did that hurt?" He was met with a few nods and groans. "Good. Daniels, Abbot and Tyler, I'm not daft, you aren't even in the right house. Leave." The three younger students he had called out stood up slowly and left the pitch. "Right. Now, I want you in groups. I want Chasers over there," he pointed to his left, "beaters there," to his right, "and seekers." in front of him, "We already have a keeper," he motioned to Edgar Bones who was already up hovering in front of the goals, "so if you were going for that you may as well leave now. We have five positions up for offer today; one beater, one chaser, a seeker and two reserves. Those laps were only an eighth of how hard training sessions will be so if you have a problem so far you are also wasting my time."

A few more people got up and left.

"Okay," James rubbed his hands together. "Seekers," He pointed to the group of six in front of him. "you'll be working with Black. Beaters," he looked at the group of seven to his right, "meet McKinnon. And chasers you get to work with myself and Ed up there. Lucky you." He grinned.

* * *

"Harvey; chaser, Essley; beater, Montgomery; seeker, Inns and Donery; reserves. Congratulations. First training session is Monday afternoon, four-thirty. The rest of you…" James looked out over the wheezing group. "better luck next time."

The group got up and left, some limping slightly, and he turned to Sirius and Marlene.

"I need a smoke." He shook his head. "It amazes me how trials never fail to piss me off, really why try out for the part if you don't even know how to play Quidditch?"

"Mate, to you nobody knows how to play Quidditch unless _you_ train them."

"Exactly." James muttered.

When they got to the little clearing by the lake, followed by the girls, Remus and Peter were already there, the former sitting on a rock with his nose in a book.

"Moony," Sirius said sharply, "I thought we agreed that this was a _homework-free_ area."

"Actually _you_ made that a rule," Remus replied, "and this isn't homework,"

"It's Lord of the Rings," Lily finished for him. Remus nodded.

"What?" Marlene and James said in unison.

"It's a muggle fantasy book series," Lily shook her head, "don't worry."

Meanwhile Dorcas was scouring the perimeter, looking under rocks and gnarled tree roots.

"What are you doing, Doe?" Mary asked.

"Looking for- Aha! Got it." Dorcas ducked out from behind a tree with a half empty, glass bottle that was crusted in dirt and rotten leaves. "I dropped this here ages ago!"

"It's a bottle of dirt." Alice pointed out.

"Yep." She grinned.

"How were try outs?" Peter asked, watching as everyone else dropped their stuff and sat on the ground, then casting a wary eye at Dorcas before turning to James.

"Don't even get me started," James muttered, lighting a cigarette.

"That bad?"

"Three Hufflepuffs tried to get in," Sirius said.

"And some Ravenclaw girls came down to ogle at James." Marlene added.

"So the usual." Dorcas finished, swaying back and forth on the swing she had made with Lily back in their fourth year. "I can't believe we only have two more years."

"Two more years to do as much crazy shit as we can," Marlene grinned.

* * *

The next day went quite well, as Sundays go. It was sunny again and a bit warm too, though that didn't stop the sixth year Gryffindors from staying inside. Lily and Mary sat with Remus, Peter and James at a back table in the library around an hour after breakfast. They were supposed to be studying for a Divination exam but none of them took notice of the books and parchment piled on the end of the table.

"I guess you haven't talked to her then?" Lily asked Remus.

He shook his head, scrawling down a few sentences. "What am I supposed to say to her, Lily?"

"How about 'Dorcas I really do love you but I have major commitment issues. Because I'm a werewolf.' Would that work?" James put in.

"Keep it down!" Remus scolded, glancing around.

"Am I missing something?" Peter asked.

Remus sighed and shook his head. "Dorcas tried to kiss him," Mary said.

"What?" Peter shook his head, "When?"

"On the train," Remus answered, "when they lost Lily's cat,"

"You lost Lily's cat?"

"No!" James looked offended, "Marlene did,"

Lily rolled her eyes, turning back to Remus, "You need to talk to her, Remus,"

"I'm sure she's gotten over it by now. She seems fine,"

"She's been getting up earlier and earlier to run every morning," Mary said. Lily nodded.

"So?" James asked.

"So Dorcas isn't a morning person," Remus responded, "you're lucky to get her up in time for classes without coffee. Why do you think she's so energetic and happy?"

"She drinks about four cups of coffee at breakfast," Lily finished.

Peter looked confused, "But what has that got to do with running?"

"It's how she gets away," came Mary's reply, "when she needs to think, she runs."

"Remus you have to talk to her!"

"Lily, she's probably gotten over it!"

"She hasn't," Mary murmured.

"Just talk to her, Moony," James muttered. Peter nodded.

"Fine!" Remus hissed, "Okay, I'll talk to her,"

* * *

The Slytherin common room was littered with folded leaflets of parchment covered in slanted, green writing when Severus Snape came down from his dormitory on Monday morning. _The Hogwarts Express_ was written in bold across the top of the one he picked up, followed by the words; _A monthly news report from yours truly, Rita Skeeter._ Rita Skeeter was a bossy, little blonde know-it-all, fourth year who thought it was her business to invade people's privacy and relay the information to everybody else. It had been that way since she'd arrived at the school. And being the little know-it-all she was, she already had job prospects; she wanted to write for the Prophet and was already trying to get a summer job there. Snape skimmed through the articles, rolling his eyes at the main one on the front page; Potter and Black trying to blow up the train, there were a few more articles about Quidditch and the weather but that was mostly it. He huffed and threw the paper into the glowing embers in the fireplace left from the night before, before leaving for breakfast. The corridors and the Great Hall were strewn with the pamphlets too.

* * *

"Bloody hell," James muttered, flipping through the pamphlet that had appeared in front of him when he'd sat down at the Gryffindor table, "'_James Potter and Sirius Black, two of Hogwarts most infamous trouble makers, attempted to blow up the Hogwarts Express at the beginning of this month and risked the lives of many. The boys claim to have only been playing a game of what they call 'Ultimate Exploding Snap' but managed to blow up their entire compartment, though this is not the first or the worst prank the boys have pulled in the past several years…_' We didn't try to blow up the train, it wasn't even a prank!"

Marlene snorted, reading over his shoulder. "Wow. Just wow,"

"As if she didn't gossip enough," Dorcas muttered from across the table.

Marlene looked up at Dorcas and then at Sirius who was next to her, staring across the hall at the Slytherin table. Following his line of view, she realised who he was staring at; a short blonde with curly hair and winged glasses giggling along with the group of girls around her. "Seems like they're the only ones who care about it," She muttered.

* * *

"I really do _hate_ Mondays," Lily groaned as they waited outside the potions dungeon.

"Really, Evans? 'Because I really do _love_ Mondays," Sirius smirked, holding out a handful of Filibusters to her.

Lily took them, shaking her head, "You are such a kid," She frowned, giving him a reproving look.

"Those were meant for the Slytherins, Padfoot, not Evans," James grinned, taking them from Lily.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to snatch?" Lily bit back.

"No," he poked her arm, "I'm perfectly nice to my mother so there is no need for her to tell me such things,"

The class filed into the room and the Marauders took their usual seats up the back with the girls.

"Can we try to get through at least one lesson without an exploding cauldron caused by you five?" Remus muttered, looking at his fellow Marauders, Marlene and Dorcas.

"Of course!" Marlene laughed.

"But don't forget it _is_ double potions," Sirius finished with a smirk.

"You know, McKinnon, we would make such a great team," Sirius said some hours later as they made their way down to lunch.

"I sense an insinuation of sex somewhere in that sentence," Dorcas muttered.

Lily laughed, "You too?"

Marlene scoffed, "Maybe in your dreams," she patted his chest and winked.

"Smooth, Padfoot," James muttered, watching the four girls walk off ahead of them.

Sirius elbowed him in the ribs, "Shut up,"

* * *

"How many times, Severus?" Mulciber started, following his fellow Slytherin's glare toward the Gryffindor table, "We have no need to associate with that filth,"

Snape ignored his friend's comments and continued glowering at the Gryffindor table, specifically Potter. There he sat, laughing with his friends, making jokes, making _her_ laugh too. Snape had never made Lily laugh like that in all the years they had been friends. She was radiant, she always had been, but since they had stopped being friends and she had become good friends with Potter, Lily had been happier than he had even seen her and it made his blood boil.

"Snape!" Mulciber snapped his fingers in front of his friend's face, "Focus!"

"Yeah, yeah," Snape muttered, taking one last look at Lily before moving his gaze to the open book on the table in front of him, "I'm listening," He resolved to give her some space over the holidays but now he was going to talk to her. He had to talk to her. As soon as he could get her alone, or away from Potter at least.

* * *

"Remind me again why we are taking this class," Marlene groaned as they lounged on the bean bags in Divination after lunch.

"Free tea," Dorcas supplied, holding up her half empty cup.

"'Cause Winting is a stoner," James laughed quietly.

"To find our 'Inner Eye'," Sirius added.

"All great arguments," Remus muttered, "but I think we can all agree that it's because of the bean bags,"

The group laughed, "Definitely the bean bags," Lily chuckled.

Mary giggled, "Does it smell funny to you?" She asked, running her fingers through the thick, purple smoke above their heads.

"I don't think it's just incense he's burning," Sirius laughed.

"Miss Evans," Professor Winting called from his armchair at the front of the room.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Tell me, Miss Evans, what do you see in Miss Meadowes' cup?"

"Oh," Lily giggled, snatching up her friend's tea cup and peering into it, "I dunno, Professor. What do you see, Sirius?" She thrust the cup under Sirius' nose for him to see.

"Er… Some slimy looking yellow stuff, weird green things, a bit of back wash. And, Merlin, it smells like a hippogriff's arse." The whole class broke into laughter and Sirius pushed the cup toward Dorcas.

"Mr Pettigrew,"

"Sir?"

"What do you see in Miss McKinnon's cup?"

"Oh, I'm more of a coffee sort of person, sir," Marlene cackled.

"Have any of you drunk your tea?" Winting asked, exasperated. They all looked to Dorcas.

"Actually, this is my fourth cup," She said, raising the tea cup to him.

He sighed and shook his head, "I'd like to see you after class, the seven of you,"

"Sir?"

"Yes, Mr Lupin?"

"Can I ask, what is that you're burning?"

"Oh, just my own special blend," James snorted.

The group lingered behind as everyone else made their way to their next class, standing in a line at the front of the room, trying to stifle their giggles.

"I'm afraid you'll not be able to complete your examinations if you don't concentrate in my classes," Winting said, pacing in front of them, "it has occurred to me that you may not care for these lessons and if you don't, do not come to my class,"

Lily fidgeted uncomfortably, "Sir, we really do need to get to Transfiguration, and Professor McGonagall doesn't like it when we're late,"

He waved them off, "Yes, yes, just come to my class prepared tomorrow, okay?" They all nodded and got out of there as quickly as possible.

* * *

Later that night when the Quidditch team got back to Gryffindor tower, covered in mud and sweat, the common room was almost completely empty but for Lily and a few younger students waiting for their friends. Lily looked up from her book as Marlene collapsed on the couch beside her.

"A whole year with Potter may kill me," Eliza Harvey, a lanky girl from the year below, groaned as she stumbled toward the girls' staircase.

"Trust me, he sort of grows on you," Liam Essley, the Marauders' roommate, called after her as he sat on the other side of Lily.

"I take it practise went well?" She smirked, watching as a few more of the younger students stagger towards their dorms.

"It went splendidly," James sighed, "Donery almost passed out,"

"Isn't he a reserve?" Marlene nodded, "What are you doing to them, James?" Lily asked incredulously.

Before James could make some witty remark in response, the portrait hole opened again, emitting Sirius who breezed straight past them and only stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Care to join me for a shower, McKinnon?"

"You know, Black, you won't get anywhere by asking a girl to watch you wash your hair for half an hour," She replied over her shoulder.

* * *

The rest of the week passed and not much happened; they all slowly stopped going to Divination, Remus still didn't talk to Dorcas, Snape still didn't talk to Lily, James and Lily remained friends, Sirius and Marlene continued their little game of flirt and tease and miraculously nobody on the Gryffindor Quidditch team died from the exhaustion caused by the practises James had scheduled for four times a week.

* * *

**A/N - And there you have chapter 2! It didn't really pan out how I had hoped and it's a lot shorter than I had intended. BUT chapters 3 and 4 will (hopefully) be super long and eventful!  
Reviews are nutella in my chocolate deprived life.  
Cheers, Chelle.**


	3. Just a Bit of Fun

Throughout the coming weeks the banter between Sirius and Marlene continued, most thought it was just friendly mockery. Nobody, not even Remus or Lily; the most perceptive of their friends, realised that there was something more behind it, even if onjnhio9ie minute they were poking fun at each other and the next they were being all cuddly. If anything, it should have become obvious when they started coming back from Quidditch practices later and later.

"Alright," James shouted, "two more laps and we can actually get up in the air!"

"How much longer?" Rachel Montgomery, a short, skinny 5th year, groaned from the back of the group.

"Two more laps," Marlene breathed from behind her.

"Okay," James wheezed, standing in front of the rest of his team, "if we're going to win this year, we need to improve on _everything_. So I'm assigning you all exercises for during and out of practise. Harvey, Montgomery, Black and myself need to work on cardio, running in the mornings, and dives during practise. McKinnon, Essley, muscle, I want to see some well-aimed blows to the Slytherins when we play them. Ed… You're good. Our first match is in three weeks, and I need you all ready to go up against Hufflepuff, they didn't recruit as many people as we did this year so they've had more experience together. Meaning we need to go up against them with everything we've got to ensure a win,"

Marlene glanced over at Sirius, who winked, and then at her watch. 7 o'clock.

"Alright, go get something to eat. Harvey, you look like you're about to throw up," The group got up and started tramping up to the castle.

James remained behind, gathering up the brooms and equipment. "Oh, don't worry, we'll do that," Marlene said. "Go get some food."

James looked up at her and Sirius standing in front of him, "You sure?" They nodded, "Okay, thanks," he muttered.

Marlene started packing the training balls back into their wooden crate. Sirius started gathering up the brooms.

Once all the equipment was back in the store room, Sirius stuck his head out the door to the change room to make sure everyone was gone.

"Everyone gone?" Marlene asked from behind him.

Sirius nodded, turning and pushed her against the nearest locker, crashing his lips down on hers.

* * *

"Why do you take Advanced Potions, Evans? You don't need potions to be a writer," James asked on Friday afternoon, slowly stirring the grey slush in his cauldron. "That's what you want to do right, write?"

"I guess. Why do you take advanced potions if you want to play Quidditch?" Lily countered, "Too many Flobberworms," she added.

"What?"

"You've put in too many Flobberworms, it should be yellow, not grey," she pointed to his cauldron.

James stopped stirring and grimaced down at his potion, "To make my parents happy," he said.

"Hmm?"

"I take advanced classes to make my parents happy. They want me to be an Auror, part of me wants to too, but I want to play Quidditch more," he said, vanishing the sludge from his cauldron. "Can I use yours?"

Lily looked up at him and then to the jar in his hand, "Oh, erm, yeah, whatever." She shook her head, ladling the yellow liquid from her cauldron into both their vials.

"I owe you," She nodded

* * *

"'_The number of Lethifold victims is almost impossible to calculate since it leaves no clues to its presence behind it. Easier to calculate is the number of wizards who have, for their own unscrupulous purposes, pretended to have been killed by Lethifolds. The most recent instance of such duplicity occurred in 1973 when the wizard Janus Thickey vanished, leaving only a hastily written note on the bedside table reading 'oh no a Lethifold's got me I'm suffocating'. Convinced by the spotless and empty bed that such a creature had indeed killed Janus, his wife and children entered a period of strict mourning, which was rudely interrupted when Janus was discovered living five miles away with the landlady of the Green Dragon._'" There were a few chuckles from the class, "Now, does anyone know what a Lethifold is also known as?" Professor Wattkins asked, peering over the top of her book at the class. She was a short woman, late twenties, short blond hair, skinny.

Lily was the first to raise her hand, "A Living Shroud," She answered.

"Very good, Miss Evans," Wattkins praised, "and does anyone know the spell that repels them?"

Again Lily was the first to raise her hand, but this time Remus, who was half a second behind her, was the one to be called on, "The Patronus charm,"

"Very good, ten points to Gryffindor for both those answers. Now, I want you all to write down in your books a condensed description of the chapter on Lethifolds that is in your textbooks. I don't mind if you talk, as long as it's quiet."

"I'm not sure what I want to do yet," Lily said after she had finished writing, leaning over the front of her desk toward James.

"What?" He spun around in his seat, almost head-butting her.

Lily leant back, "You asked me why I'm taking Advanced Potions if I want to become a writer, I'm not so sure I want to be a writer anymore,"

"Oh. Well what do you want to do?"

She shrugged, "Work in a shop, become a Healer, travel in time and space,"

"What was that last part?"

"Nothing,"

"Lily is obsessed with Doctor Who," Marlene muttered from her seat beside Lily.

"What?" James asked.

"No, Who,"

Lily shook her head, "Muggle television show," she said.

"Okay," Wattkins started before James could reply, "I just need you all to copy that down and then we can get to the theory," she pointed to the large chalkboard at the front of the room. On the upper half she had drawn a detailed diagram of wand movements, below were two small paragraphs about the Patronus charm.

By the time the bell for their last period of the day sounded, the whole class was standing around the room trying to generate a Patronus. All the chairs and tables had been stacked magically at the side of the room.

"Remember, you need a truly happy memory," Wattkins called, walking around the room, "allow it to fill you up,"

After 40 minutes both James and Sirius were able to produce silver smoke from their wands, several minutes after that so were Remus and Peter.

Bloody Marauders, Lily thought just as Alice and then Marlene got it. She rolled her eyes. Every memory that Lily tried to use was happy, but not happy enough apparently. I could have something to do with the fact that they contained either Petunia or Snape.

By the time the bell sounded Lily still couldn't even find the right memory.

"I want you all to work on your Patronus' over the weekend!" Wattkins called as the class packed up their things and left.

* * *

All day Saturday everybody was practicing the Patronus. That is, everyone except Lily, she just couldn't get it right! So she had given up at around 2 o'clock that morning.

Lily sat on her bed, watching as Marlene and Dorcas shot silver mist at each other.

"Shouldn't you be practicing?" Dorcas asked before jumping onto Mary's bed.

Lily shrugged, sorting her photos into different piles, "Thought I should take a bit of a break,"

She had just started making duplicates of the pictures that made up the biggest pile when Mary walked in, closing the door silently behind her, "So I broke up with Edgar," She said calmly.

"You don't seem too distraught," Dorcas said, bouncing back onto her own bed.

"Oh, I'm not. I mean, he wasn't cheating or anything, we just weren't doing well together,"

Marlene raised her eyebrows, "That's it?"

Mary nodded.

"No cheating, no lying, no nothing?"

She shook her head.

"Well then, I guess he's not as much of a prat as we thought,"

Mary shrugged, "Guess not. No training today?"

Marlene shook her head, "James gives us the night off once a month so we can actually sleep,"

Dorcas had gone silent and sat on the end of her bed. Lily looked up from the photos, "That's tonight?" She asked, trying to sound casual.

"Yep,"

"Well then," Mary said, "I propose that we have a girls' night in,"

* * *

The three girls (Alice was spending the night with Frank) huddled on Lily's bed, all giggling madly while they looked through every one of the photos she had stored in that little wooden box over the last few years.

"Oh my god," Mary giggled holding up one picture she had just come across, "I remember this!"

Marlene snatched the photograph from her and squinted down at it, it was of James being attacked by a pair of Doxies during one of their first Care of Magical Creatures classes. One of them was hanging from his finger by its teeth, the other hanging from his ear, also by its teeth. That was the day the Slytherin common room became infested with Doxies.

"He still has the little scars on his ear," she smiled.

"Hang on," Lily held up several pictures between her fingers, "who took these?"

Mary glanced at them, all were of Lily dancing and laughing with either Sirius, Remus, Peter, or James at one of their parties a few years before.

Marlene looked down at the photos then glanced away a little too suspiciously.

Lily made a loud noise in the back of her throat, "Mar?"

"I might have gone a little," Marlene scratched the back of her neck, "trigger happy?"

Dorcas sat on the window seat with her legs dangling out of the open window, she didn't seem to feel the cold of the night.

Lily, upon seeing her friend's vulnerable position, got gently off the bed and sat next to her, one leg handing over the ledge with the other folded underneath her.

Before Lily could speak, Dorcas pressed a finger to her lips and pointed down at three large figures silhouetted by the moonlight.

"Is that…?" Lily whispered.

Dorcas nodded.

"But how did they…?" She gasped, "I've got an idea," Dorcas gave her a questioning look but Lily shook her head and glanced back at Mary. "But how did you figure it out?"

"I've seen them a few times. The first time I knew it was Remus but I was a little confused as to how he found a dog and a deer, and then I started to realise that the nights that the boys left the common room earlier than normal were full moons. I don't know for sure, but I'm convinced that it's them."

"Well there's only one way to find out,"

"Lily, we aren't going to ask them," She groaned.

"Oh, we are going to do something so much better than that,"

* * *

Hours later, after the girls had gone to bed and Mary had finally fallen asleep, the three girls snuck into the Marauders' dorm. Making sure not to wake Liam, the fifth person of the dorm, they ripped open all the bed hangings. As they had thought, only one bed was occupied. Lily had made their plan clear when she had woken Marlene, sneak into the boys' dorm, make sure they aren't there, then pick a bed each and wait.

They were there for a while.

It was just before dawn when Peter, James and Sirius got there.

Sirius ripped open the curtains at the side of his bed and collapsed on top of Marlene, James had taken his glasses and shirt off before her opened his bed hangings and nearly sat on Lily who was sitting on his bed, reading by wand light. Both their faces lit up when they realised that the girls were in their beds, Peter on the other hand did not seem too happy to find his bed occupied. He wasn't even in contact with the bed when he realised that Dorcas was there.

"Hey, Pete," She smiled.

"Mind telling us where you've been?" Lily asked, opening all their hangings with a flick of her wand, "And can you please put a shirt on,"

"Can we do that after sleep?" Sirius, who was still lying on Marlene, asked.

"No," Marlene groaned, "Sirius, you're crushing me," He rolled over and smirked.

Lily poked James, "Where have you been?"

"What are you now, Evans, my mum?"

Dorcas sighed and shook her head as she got up so Peter could have his bed back, "We saw you,"

"What?" Peter asked, putting on his best act to look puzzled.

"We aren't daft you know, we know that the stag and dog running around with Remus last night were you two," Lily said.

Marlene sat up and raised her hand, "For the record I did not see anything, they just dragged me along,"

"Just tell us how," Lily rolled her eyes.

Peter looked at his two friends helplessly. "We'd have to kill you then," Sirius said.

Lily lay back on James' bed, "You're bloody animagi!"

James covered her mouth with his hand and cast a cautious eye towards Liam's bed, "Will you shut up?"

"So it was you,"

"Of course it was us,"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Sirius shrugged, "Didn't see the need to,"

"Well it's not like we can't keep a secret," Dorcas muttered.

"Well now you know," James pulled Lily to her feet and pushed her towards the door, "so please let us get some sleep,"

"Rude," Lily muttered. He stuck his tongue out at her.

"Fine, have your sleep," Dorcas muttered, pulling Lily out the door with her, "but you still could have told us!" She called.

Marlene got up from Sirius' bed and followed their path, only stopping at the door to turn back to James, "You know, you could have at least told me," She said, "I mean, we've known each other since we were four," She glanced at Sirius and flicked her eyebrows up at him before leaving.

* * *

Although the three boys slept until 11 o'clock and Remus was in the hospital until lunch, they still managed to charm every jack-o'-lantern to scream at people or shoot black and orange confetti as they walked down the halls.

"Ah, Halloween," Lily muttered when a 6 foot tall pumpkin wolf-whistled at her as the girls made their way down to lunch, "best day of the year, if you ask me,"

"Better than Christmas?" Alice asked.

Lily pointed to her, "It's a tie."

"How? At Christmas you get presents and it snows." Marlene said.

"But Halloween means good food and weather that isn't completely freezing."

"She has a point." Mary muttered. 

* * *

"Apparently they figured it out,"

"Well I guess you weren't exactly subtle."

"How would you know?"

Remus raised his eyebrows, "Sirius, you aren't subtle about anything."

"That you know of," Sirius muttered.

James raised his eyebrows then shook his head, "Anyway, so we got back up to the dorm thinking it was empty, well besides Liam, open the curtains and there they are, one on each bed. They wouldn't even let us sleep until they'd gotten it out of us!"

"And you told them?"

"Well they already know about you, don't they?"

"Keep your voice down!" Remus hissed.

"It was only Lily and Marlene and Dorcas."

"We can trust them, Moony."

"So how did they _figure_ it out?"

"Apparently Dorcas is a very perceptive person," Remus nodded, "and she realised that the nights that we weren't seen after eight were full moons. Plus they saw us."

"What do you mean they saw you?"

"No," Sirius said, "they saw _us_."

"Oh."

"Anyway," James pushed the plate of food they had collected from the Great Hall earlier towards Remus, "what time do you reckon you can get out of here today?" Remus shrugged.

"Poppy, m'dear!" Sirius called.

"Mr Black?" Came her exasperated response.

"When can Remus get out of here?"

"Well it is after lunch, so as soon as he eats that food you brought in." James raised his eyebrows, "Yes, I noticed."

"Well, eat up, Moony. We've got shit to do."

Madam Pomfrey opened the curtain behind Peter, giving them a disapproving look, "Language, Black. And you can't leave until you've taken this." She held a small vial of orange liquid out to Remus.

He cringed at the sight of it, "Really, I'm fine."

"You have to take it."

Remus sighed and took the vial, downing it in one gulp. "Happy?"

She nodded, "I'll be back to discharge you soon."

As soon as Madam Pomfrey was out of earshot Remus vanished the food. "What was that for?" James asked.

"Don't feel much like lunch," Remus said, reaching into the top drawer of the little table next to the bed and withdrew 4 blocks of Honeydukes finest and threw one to each of his friends.

* * *

After Remus had been discharged from the infirmary the boys walked down to the basements, chatting idly.

"Don't you think we're sort of running out of ideas for pranks?" Peter asked.

"Oh, don't be daft, Wormtail," Sirius scoffed, "we can never run out of ideas for pranks."

"As long as Sirius and James have money." Remus muttered.

"Oi!"

"Moony, you got those galleons you won off McKinnon?" Sirius asked.

Remus stopped and looked down at his chest, "Oh, sorry, was I supposed to take money with me when I turned into a werewolf? Is Dumbledore charging admission to the Shack now?"

They stopped in front of the painting of the fruit bowl and Remus tickled the pear. Sirius turned the door knob and they stepped into the kitchen.

"Oh, masters," A small elf with large blue eyes squeaked, "what can Bindi do for masters today?"

"Got any money, Prongs?"

James sighed and crouched down in front of her, holding several Sickles between his fingers. "Bindi, how many times, it's James."

She nodded, "Yes, master James."

James shook his head, "I need a favour. I need you, and possibly Bobby if you need help, to tamper with the Slytherins food. No poison or anything, we just need you to make their puddings explode when touched." He held the money out to the elf.

"Bindi thinks she can do that." She said, counting the money.

"Thank you, Bindi." He held out his hand and she shook his finger. James straightened up and grinned at his friends, "And now to the Great Hall."

* * *

Remus put down his fork and looked up at Marlene, he'd tried to ignore her staring but her eyes kept playing at the edge of his vision.

"Can I help you?"

"_You_ didn't tell us."

"Tell you what?" Mary asked.

"Was I supposed to?" Remus asked.

"_Tell you what?_" Mary asked again. Still nobody answered her.

"Well, you are the one who usually sells that lot out to us." Lily said around a mouthful of mash potato.

"That is _very_ lady like, Evans." Sirius remarked from across the table. Lily smiled at him.

"Okay," Dorcas pushed her plate away and leant over the table, "what did you do?"

James looked up at her and shrugged, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"We're halfway through dinner and there hasn't been an incident yet. Actually there hasn't been an incident all day." She tucked a strand of long blue hair behind her ear.

"Well except the giant pumpkins that have been wolf whistling us all day." Alice added.

"Okay, that _was_ us." Sirius said, "But if we told you what we have planned for tonight we'd have to kill you." He winked.

Frank Longbottom slid down the bench into Sirius, "You guys are coming tonight, right?"

"Tonight?"

"Seventh years are throwing a party in the History class room." Sirius groaned, pushing Frank over.

"Last Halloween here," he shrugged, "figured we'd celebrate."

Marlene nodded, "Yeah, okay. What time?"

"Nine. Don't be late."

"You realise it's a Sunday, right?" Lily asked.

"That's why we're having it early."

* * *

Just as Dorcas bit into a treacle tart there were several an enormous bangs from the other side of the hall and a few screams. The group whipped around to see the whole of Slytherin house covered in pudding and glitter.

Narcissa Black wiped a glob of chocolate cream out of her hair and screamed across the hall, "BLACK!"

Sirius stood up from his seat, grinning and waved, "Can I help you, cousin?"

"This was your doing!" Daniel Nott yelled, "You and Potter!"

"Where's your proof?" James called, laughing.

Just then a scoop of ice cream flew across the hall and hit Nott in the face. Sputtering, he threw a slice of pie across the hall which hit a Ravenclaw girl in the chest. After that it broke into an all-out food fight.

No matter how much the teachers protested everybody ended up covered in food after the first 30 seconds. The enchanted sky above the hall boomed as scarlet and grey drops fell on everybody. Out of everybody in the hall, the Marauders, Lily, Dorcas, Marlene, Mary, Alice, Liam, Frank, the Prewett brothers and a few other Gryffindors were having the most fun, standing up on the tables and throwing everything they could reach.

"Potter! Black!" Professor McGonagall bellowed, storming down the aisle between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables. Everyone stopped at this, watching as a tart, almost as if in slow motion, flew across the hall and landed with a splat on her shoulder.

"My office. Now." She growled. "Miss Evans, Meadowes, McKinnon, Macdonald, Prewett, Mr Longbottom, Mr Essley, also to my office." McGonagall turned to the rest of the hall, "Black, Nott, Avery, Mulciber, Snape, I expect Professor Slughorn to deal with you. The rest of you back to your dormitories." Then she swiftly left the hall, followed by the group of Gryffindors.

* * *

"But it wasn't us, Professor." James implored.

"You were the instigators."

"Then why are we here?" Marlene asked.

"Because, Miss McKinnon, you were all in the midst of it all, throwing anything you could get your hands on. All eleven of you!" She glared at the group. "And you, Mr Longbottom, I expected more of the Head Boy."

Frank stared at his shoes, "Sorry, Professor."

"It was just a bit of fun," Sirius interjected, "but we didn't throw that ice cream. I swear."

"Please, Professor," James stepped forward, "don't blame them, we egged the Slytherins on."

Just then Lily pushed Liam forward and stepped up with him, "Mr Essley, Miss Evans?" McGonagall raised her brows.

"Really, Professor, we should get the blame."

"What?" Liam muttered, leaning toward Lily who elbowed him.

"Yeah," Dorcas pulled Mary forward with her, "we should take the blame. I mean, they can't afford anymore detentions. Gryffindor's first match is in two weeks."

"And we _need_ to win this first game." Peter finished.

"Okay, okay. All of you have a week of detentions, except you Potter, Black and McKinnon. I will see the eight of you every night straight after dinner. You may go." She strode across the office muttering, "Merlin, _both_ prefects and our Head Boy."

James turned to Lily once they were down the corridor, "What was that about?"

"You're welcome." She rolled her eyes, "You guys _really can't_ afford any more detentions, I want Gryffindor to win next week just as much as you do."

"Anyway," Dorcas said loudly, "who _did_ throw that ice cream?"

Alice raised her hand tentatively, "Erm, me."

They all stopped and stared at her.

"You're joking." James said, his eyes wide.

Alice shook her head, "I sort of just did it on a whim." She said quietly

Frank laughed, squeezing her shoulders and kissed her hard. "Oh, I love you."

* * *

Almost everybody that attended the party on Sunday missed breakfast the following morning and most were late to their first class.

The girls would have been perfectly on time for Potions if they hadn't had to race back to get Alice, who had spent the night with Frank, and wake their fellow 6th years on their way. As it turned out they were 15 minutes late.

Slughorn cleared his throat at the group quietly snuck into the back row and unpacked their things, "Miss Evans, care to explain why the eight of you are so late?"

"Oh, we were up late studying for… Astronomy." Lily muttered.

"Astronomy… all eight?"

"Yes," Dorcas nodded, "I was really stuck and Marlene tried to help but then she got stuck so then Lily tried to help, but she's just not as good when it comes to Astronomy as she is in Potions and so she couldn't get it and then eventually we got Alice to show us," She stopped and made a small motion towards the boys, "and we were all sort of working on it together."

Slughorn nodded, "Well get out your stuff then, work's on the board." He pointed towards the chalkboard at the front of the room.

There was a high-pitched laugh from the other side of the room where a group of girls were huddled around each other, ignoring their half-prepared ingredients. Marlene and Sirius both grimaced, "No more going to parties on a school night, Lily." She said.

"Speaking of," Lily shifted on her stool, "where did you wander off to last night?" Marlene chanced a glimpse down the table at Sirius. "We couldn't find you when we were leaving and you weren't in the common room or the dorm when we got back up there."

"Oh, I was around." She shrugged, "Better get to work, huh?"

* * *

"I really need to learn when to say no." Alice yawned at lunch.

Dorcas choked on her pumpkin juice, "What was that?"

"Oh. Er, nothing."

Lily laid her head on the table, "I'm not even hungry, I just want to sleep."

"Well, Evans, unless you've decided to actually take more classes, I think we can all agree that everyone will be sleeping next period." Sirius said.

"And that we will no longer be going to parties on school nights." Marlene added.

"Agreed," James groaned, rubbing his temples, "or heavy drinking."

"Well that's no fun." Marlene muttered.

* * *

When Lily woke, some hours later, it was nearly dark. Well that's how it seemed, shadows were cast all around the room and the sky outside was a dark grey.

Lily rolled over and groaned, picking up her watch from the bedside table. 4 o'clock. "Shit. Shit shit shit." In her haste, her legs got tangled in the sheets and Lily fell from the bed onto the stone floor.

It was only storming, she realised as she got down to the common room where her friends were seated on the floor and chairs in front of the fire.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Lily asked, rubbing her eyes. "I missed Arithmacy and Transfiguration! What did McGonagall say?"

Dorcas shrugged, watching her friend take a seat on the arm of the lounge Remus was laying on, "Not much, we just told her that you were sick."

"By the way, we learnt how to change patterns." Marlene added.

"Next time," Lily scowled, crossing her arms, "wake me up."

* * *

"Now I don't expect you to have mastered a full-body Patronus in the last few days but I assume that you can all produce a thicker, larger amount of smoke than you could on Friday." Professor Wattkins said from the centre of the class, "Don't forget, you need a happy- truly happy memory for this to work."

Lily sat on a stack of desks at the back of the room, watching as the rest of the class chatted and laughed, shooting thick silver smoke at each other.

By the time the lesson was half over both Sirius and James could produce full-body Patronuses, nobody was surprised, really, they _were_ at the top of most of their classes.

"Come on, Evans," James was standing below her, an iridescent stag pranced around them, "aren't you going to have a go?"

Lily shrugged, "Probably not."

"Why?"

"Can't get it."

"What's there to get? There's no flourish or anything, just an incantation and a memory."

"What was your memory?"

"Don't change the subject, Evans. Come one, get up."

With a sigh, Lily climbed down from the mountain of tables and pulled her wand from the waist of her skirt, "I'm telling you, I can't get it right."

"What memory are you using?"

She shrugged again. "None, they all suck."

"Did you try any that didn't have your sister or Sniv- Snape in them?"

Lily looked down at the stone floor and shook her head.

"Well there's your problem. Okay, remember that weekend when we all stayed down at the lake and Sirius fill our sleeping bags with Plimpy spawn?"

Lily nodded, laughing. "So we levitated him out to the middle of the lake and dropped him there. I can't believe that was almost two years ago."

James grinned, "Try that."

Lily steadied herself, concentrated on what she could remember from those two days and muttered the spell. A few wisps of smoke came from the tip of her wand. "I can't really remember much."

James thought for a moment, "How about last summer? You've got to have heaps of great memories."

Lily twisted her lip to the side and nodded. She closed her eyes, muttered the incantation and concentrated on the week she had stayed at Marlene's, the weekend they stayed at the Potter's. She was picturing the day they were playing two-on-two Quidditch with James and Sirius when suddenly she was remembering the kiss they had shared the same day.

Light exploded in the room. Lily swore she could feel his lips meet hers again. She opened her eyes to see a silvery – almost white – doe between herself and James. Everything happened in an instant, the class around them seemed to be moving as if in slow-motion as the doe appeared, both Lily and James' eyes widened, Lily gasped and dropped her wand and the doe was gone, and in the few seconds it took for her to collect herself and retrieve her wand and bag so was Lily.

* * *

She didn't go to lunch.

James sat quietly, staring at his bare plate.

"Eat up, Prongs." Sirius said from next to him, shovelling food onto his friend's plate.

"I'm not hungry." James muttered

Marlene frowned at him from across the table, "What's wrong?"

"You didn't see it?" Peter asked.

"See what?"

James sat up straight then, his eyes were sad. "Nothing." He got up and left the hall.

Dorcas spoke up then, "Am I missing something?"

Remus concentrated on his food, he was very quiet.

"Remus?" Alice inquired.

He looked up at his friends, "I don't really think it's my place to tell you." He said quietly.

"Pete?"

Peter shook his head, "Prongs obviously doesn't want us to know right now, I'm not going to rat on them."

"So this has something to do with Evans too?" Sirius asked.

Silence.

"Well then." He muttered, swinging his legs over the bench to get up.

"Sirius, don't go making it worse, I'm sure James doesn't want anyone pestering him."

"First of all, if I was going to go have a heart to heart with my best mate he would tell me what's got his wand in a knot and I would not make it worse. Secondly, I'm not even going to see him."

"Then where are you going?"

"That, Meadowes, is for me to know and you to find out." He winked and strode out of the hall.

* * *

He found her in the bleachers at the Quidditch pitch, a cigarette caught between her middle and index fingers and a bottle of wine stood on the next bench up, she was using her book bag as a pillow.

"So when did you decide to take up smoking, Red?" Sirius smirked.

"When I was fourteen," she withdrew a pack of smokes from the pocket of her skirt and threw it to him, "I was going to smoke and get tattoos and buy a motorcycle and wear leather jackets."

"And what happened?"

Lily shrugged, "Just didn't go through with it."

Sirius chucked the pack of cigarettes back to her after he had removed and lit one. "Well it's never too late."

She held the box back up to him, "I sort of took these from your room."

He smirked and shook his head, "Keep them."

She dropped it next to the wine. "And I just sort of figured that Marlene would be the one to get the tattoos and a bike and wear leather because she's sort of like you. Even more since the two of you have been shagging." Sirius raised his brows and Lily chuckled, "You think I haven't realised?"

"Someone was bound to in the end."

"You should probably try to cover your tracks better, it's become a little noticeable. But why didn't you tell us?"

He shrugged. "We aren't a couple, it's not really anything serious. We don't want there to be this big thing about it. What happened in Defence?"

Lily grimaced, "So that's why you're here."

"Well you suddenly left and haven't been seen since, and Prongs won't talk to anybody, let alone look at us."

She sighed, "Promise you won't tell. Not even Marlene."

"Marauders oath."

"I er- I cast a full body Patronus. And it was um… it was a doe."

"So?"

"James' is a stag."

Sirius' eyes widened and he exhaled slowly. "Shit."

"Yep." They both took a long drag from their almost forgotten cigarettes. "So I'm sort of avoiding everyone right now."

"Well nobody saw except Pete and Remus," he shrugged, "and they aren't going to rat on you any time soon. But you're going to have to sort this out."

"I know." She sighed.

* * *

**A/N: Yay an update! Thank you all so so so so SO much for the reviews. I really didn't plan on the Patronus lesson but I'm glad I put it in.  
Reviews are the dark chocolate I'm craving :)  
Cheers, Chelle.**


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